Back in the very headwaters of Falls Lake, Duke is going to fish the creek channel. The surrounding water is very shallow in this location, typically only 3 to 4 feet deep dropping off into the creek channel, which will be somewhere between 15 and 20 feet deep. Littered across the top of the channel edge are stumps and ledges. These are the locations that Falls Lake crappie come to during the winter to stay warm.

"Don't let anybody tell you that all the crappie go deep during the winter," Duke said. "That stretch of water is almost always dingy, and that dingy water will be warmer than the rest of the lake."

Duke also said that same stretch of water will hold some of the biggest crappie in the lake as well. "That whole upper end is really just a big, shallow flat with a creek channel running through it. It's hard to imagine catching fish only 3 to 4 feet deep in January, but we do it all the time up there."

Duke and his wife rig for these shallow-water crappie by using long rods in the 12- to 14-foot range. Because the fish are so shallow, the boat will cause them to spook. So Ed and Trudy have their best luck tight-lining straight down out away from the boat. The Dukes will rig their rods with a 1/2-ounce egg sinker wrapped three or four times in the line with 18 or so inches left below the weight. To this end is tied either a small No. 6 hook for a live minnow or a 1/16-ounce hair jig tipped with a live minnow.

The couple likes to employ four rods from the front of the boat and four from the back. There is no rod limit on Falls, but Duke said that the area can get kind of tight in spots, and it's hard to maneuver a bunch of rods when the water is down as it has been over the last couple of years.

"Ed fishes in the front and I set up in the back," Trudy Duke said. "That works out OK most times, but if the water is too shallow or too clear, I'll move to the front with him because the boat will spook the crappie and make them hard to catch from the back. Lately, we haven't really been able to get up on the flat much and do most of our fishing in the channel."

"The crappie won't show up on the graph," said Duke, "they are so close to the bottom we just have to work the structure along the channel. The bends in the channel are a great place to find bigger crappie congregating and I'd encourage anglers to take their time and work those areas thoroughly. Just drop the rig to the bottom and reel up one turn and make sure you're pretty close to the bottom as you bump along with the trolling motor."

While the area is a good producer, it's not the only area that holds fish. Duke said anglers can work their way down the river channel all the way to the Hwy. 50 bridge, which is adjacent to the mouth of Big Lick Creek. The area may not hold as many fish, but it is a good place to catch a 2-pound crappie.